Artificial Intelligence
Human Replacement
The theory of replacement creates
the most controversy. It contends that AI's
will eventually surpass our capabilities and
that we will in effect lose the capacity to
control them for our purposes. So the question
arises, do AI systems know of their existence?
As systems advance, they will develop their
own sense of self and unique wants and needs
that do not necessarily coincide with our own.
The Terminator series is founded on this presumption
carried to an extreme measure. Would AI want
to exterminate us? There are futurists that
see the science-fiction conception view of machines
with artificial intelligence as the future successors
of human beings. This evolutionary theory predicts
intelligent machines evolve to a stage in which
they will surpass man in all his abilities.
Once that threshhold occurs, the machines will
see no benefit from the human race and will
cause the disappearance of all humans.
More and more people come in
contact with machines that are able to do operations
that were previously only associated with human
intellect. This increase in the number of "intelligent"
machines and the extension of their abilities
have caused increased concern and fear that
eventually machines can take over at the top
of the food chain. Visions of the "Terminator"
movies where machines are actively seeking out
and eliminating the human race make us wonder
if we need to keep in check the reasoning power
of inanimate objects.
Peter Molik in his essay "Artificial Intelligence
as an Evolutionary Stage of Human Mind"
raises the following questions that future generations
should delve into as machines take on more human
thinking capabilities:
What are the limits of intellectual faculties
of machines with artificial intelligence?
Can intelligent machines possess all
features of human mind?
Can intelligent machines gain decisive
superiority to man in these features?
Can intelligent machines get out of human
control?
Would man allow it?
In recent news there are robots
teaching science, battling fires and, not too
long ago, walking on Mars. NASA is currently
working on a robot that will be able to go into
situations deemed too dangerous for humans.
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